Course Policies

• Course Description
• Code of Conduct
• Course Resources
• Computers
• Notebook
• Homework
• Python Style Conventions
• Procrastination
• Technical Glitches
• Turning in Assignments
• Assignment Evaluation
• Grading
• Academic Integrity
• Acceptable Use Policy

Course Description

From the Polytechnic School Course of Study:

The material in this course is more abstract than that of the Intro or AP computer science courses, and most students find the material quite a bit more challenging. :)

Code of Conduct

The instructor of this course is dedicated to providing a respectful, harassment-free community for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment or bullying of any community member in any form.

Harassment includes

• deliberate intimidation
• bullying
• sustained disruptions of classes, chats, electronic meetings, physical meetings or other events
• offensive verbal/electronic comments related to personal characteristics or choices
• sexual images or comments in public or online spaces
• stalking or following
• harassing photography or recording
• inappropriate physical contact
• unwelcome sexual attention

Participants asked to stop any harassing or bullying behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, representatives of the community may take reasonable action they deem appropriate including warning the offender and reporting the behavior to school administrators.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please act to intercede or ask for help from the instructor or any school teacher or administrator.

This Code of Conduct has been adapted from the one at PyLadies.com and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Course Resources

This course will makes use of the following resources:

• Textbook: Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures using Python by Bradley N. Miller and David L. Ranum
  A hard-copy of this textbook is available. The authors have also published this book online. It is available in a HTML web-based version.
• Website: created by the instructor to deliver content and resources to you.
• Server: used by all of us to work on and share documents
• Instructor: I'll provide presentations, in-class demonstrations, and assignments designed to guide your learning.

The course website most notably includes a daily schedule for our class, online lectures that you will be asked to refer to before and after presentations in class, and copies of assignments and other resources used in the course.

Computers

You will need to bring a laptop for use in this course—any Apple or PC laptop running Windows, OS X, or Linux will work. Make sure that your laptop's battery is capable of holding a charge for the duration of class. (If your battery no longer holds a charge, buy or order a new one now so that you'll have it in time for school—you won't usually have the opportunity to plug in your laptop during class.)

You will need to have access to a computer and the internet at home as well.

You will need to install software for this course, including MiniConda and git. Information on how to install these packages is given provided via those links.

Notebook

A computer science class is not only about coding on the computer—we make use of paper documents in here as well. This class in particular will include drawing and diagramming of data structures. Have pen and paper handy for making sketches, and be prepared to scan your work to PDF form for uploading to the server.

Homework

You will have homework for this class, during which you may be reading the text, writing solutions to problems, coding on the computer, taking an online quiz, etc.

It may be the case that you occasionally find yourself stumped by a particular homework assignment. In these cases, you are encouraged to:

• talk with someone else in the class about the problem and how to go about solving it
• examine the pseudocode analysis given for some homework problems
• take a look at the full listing of the program solution or homework solution (if available), and use what you learn from that to help you
• try to track down the instructor online

Python Style Conventions

In order to assist you in writing, reading, and understanding the programs that you'll be working on in here, you'll be asked to follow a number of style conventions. These include:

1. Initial Python path, the first line of the program

   #!/usr/bin/env python3

2. Initial Comment for every program includes 5 lines of code, as shown in the example below.

   """
   quadratic_solver.py
   This program defines a class QuadraticSolver that identifies roots
   for quadratic equations.
   Written for the 2021 Advanced Topics in Computer Science course at Poly.
   """
   
   __author__ = "Richard White"
   __version__ = "2021-01-24"

3. Capitalization convention in code
   
   • variables and methods are written in all lowercase / snake_case.
   • Classes are written in lowercase but begin with a capital letter.
4. Width of program
   Lines in a program should be a maximum of 120-characters in width.
5. Indented blocks
   Blocks of code will be indented 4 spaces. Do not use the Tab key to indent unless your text editor has been configured to "auto-expand" tabs a width of 4 spaces.

We'll be developing additional conventions as the course proceeds.

Procrastination

Thanks to your intelligence and excellent pattern recognition skills, you have become well trained at Poly in the fine art of putting things off till the last minute. In many of your classes, your ability to procrastinate has served you well.

Programming doesn't work like that.

(Of course all your teachers tell you that, but this time I'm serious.)

The skills you'll be developing in here require time to sink in. Trying to fit a one-hour assignment into 15 minutes, or a ten-hour assignment into an hour-and-a-half, simply will not work.

Think of creating a piece of art. Whether it's a small or large, the work that you're creating takes time to develop—there aren't any shortcuts, and there are inevitably problems (see next section, Technical Glitches).

My advice:

• Keep good notes, and keep them organized.
• Keep your computer files organized. Your files for this class will fit neatly into a directory on your Desktop.
• Keep your files backed up. A hard drive crash is no excuse for losing data.
• If you have the chance to get started on an assignment early, do so. It will give you more time to think about the problem, to play with the problem, to benefit from discussions with others, and to ask the instructor for assistance.

Again, due to your wonderful pattern recognition skills I have every confidence that you'll figure this out early on, but I wanted to give you a heads-up on it.

You're welcome.

Technical Glitches

You can almost certainly anticipate a wide range of technical glitches that will conspire to impede your progress in here.

• You will lose work due to a hard drive crash.
• You will lose Internet connectivity at home for a day, or even a week.
• Your computer may be lost or stolen. (I don't wish it on anyone, but it has happened to student in this class in the past. You should use your locker at school to be safe.)
• You will occasionally miss class due to athletics, college visitations, or illness.

None of these are excuses for turning in late work, with the possible exception of sudden illness on the day a homework assignment is due, and even then, there's this thing called The Internet. Maybe you've heard of it? ;)

Plan for the unexpected, and try not to panic when your emergency plans fail. A missed homework assignment here or there won't be a problem for anyone, but a pattern of missed smaller assignments, or a major assignment that's not completed on time, will quickly become a problem. I'd encourage you to do what you can to avoid finding yourself in that situation.

Turning in assignments

You'll have a number of different types of assignments in here, most of them involving writing programs in Python, and most of these programs will be written on your computer, often at home. In order to "turn in" these assignments, you'll need to upload them via SFTP or SCP to a directory on the course server reserved for such purposes.

Unless stated otherwise, programs assigned on a given day are due that evening by 12:00 midnight. At that time, the programs will be automatically evaluated by testing software, so you can't afford to turn in assignments late. You are strongly encouraged to get your work done on these assignments early, so as to avoid any last-minute problems: the assignment was difficult, your connection was down, etc.

Assignment Evaluation

Evaluation of your work depends on the nature of the assignment. Tests and larger computer-based projects will be evaluated in a fairly traditional manner. Daily written homework assignments are worth fewer points but are an important aspect of your learning the material.

Daily programming assignments are going to be evaluated via a qualitative system used at Stanford. There are a number of different qualities any given program is evaluated on: efficiency, legibility, correctness, completeness, comments, etc. Although the correctness of your program will be established using a suite of tests, these assignments will be graded on the following scale:

Grading

Your grade will be based on a weighted percentage, according to the following scale:

The approximate weighting of assignments in the course will be as follows:

Academic Integrity

In addition to assisting students with learning material, teachers are often responsible for assessing their progress. In order to do this, students may be given a number of different types of assignments: homework, quizzes, tests, in-class activities, laboratory experiments to conduct, research papers, individual and group projects, presentations, etc.

It is understood that for some of these assignments, students may collaborate with one another. Four lab partners may perform an experiment as a group and share data. A student team may design and present a project together. Students might consult each other to find out how to solve a homework problem. In these cases, collaboration is accepted and even encouraged.

In many cases, however, the teacher desires an individual assessment of the student, ie. an answer to the question: "How much progress has the student made in mastering the material?" These assessments, usually in the form of quizzes and tests, are to be performed without assistance from any other sources or students.

There are many ways that a student may cheat, but they all fall into one of three categories:

1. giving or receiving unauthorized information on tests, examinations, or other work (including programming exercises)
2. using any unauthorized aids on tests, examinations, or other work (including programming exercises), or
3. copying someone else's work, in whole or in part, and submitting it unattributed as your own.

Thus, looking at someone else's test paper to copy the answer to a problem, discussing a test problem or sharing its solution with another student, copying test problems or answers and sharing them with another student, stealing a test, stealing the answers to a test, and using notes during a test that have not been expressly allowed by the teacher are all prohibited.

The penalties for cheating vary, depending on the institution, the department, the teacher, and the nature of the infraction. Commonly, a student caught cheating will receive a failing grade on the assignment and be subject to disciplinary action, including suspension and a letter being placed in the student's file. A friend of mine who is a professor states that at her university, there are a total of ten disciplinary actions possible in response to cheating, including: "expulsion, suspension (withdrawal from the University for a given period of time), mark reduction on the assignment or exam, reduction in the final course grade, a grade of F in the course, conduct probation, written reprimand, suspension of any degree already awarded, rescinding any degree already awarded."

Use your powers for good, not for evil.

Polytechnic School's Responsible Use Policy

In addition to these course policies, by using computers and the computer network at Poly you are tacitly agreeing to abide by the school's Responsible Use Agreement, which you are strongly encourage to read and understand. Violation of this policy may result in your loss of access to school technology, which is going to have a devastating effect on your ability to participate in this class. :)